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Recent State Fiduciary and Best Interest Developments

To date, 27 states have adopted rules that follow the Suitability in Annuity Transactions Model Regulation issued by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). Recent additions reflected in the following State Fiduciary and Best Interest Development chart include: Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Also, the chart reflects the Robinhood Financial v. Galvin decision by a Massachusetts Superior Court Judge declaring the Massachusetts fiduciary duty rule unlawful as well as a proposed rule issued by the Nevada Commissioner of Insurance imposing new requirements for training producers in connection with the recommendation of annuities.

To view the updates, visit the Resource page.

Download the chart of all the states.

Rollover Recommendations – Do the SEC and DOL Requirements Align?

Key Takeaways

The SEC and the DOL have separately issued guidance on rollover recommendations – however, a close examination indicates that the guidance by both agencies is very similar. The SEC’s guidance for broker-dealers is in Regulation Best Interest and a recent Staff Bulletin on account recommendations. The DOL’s guidance about rollover recommendations came in the form of an expanded interpretation of fiduciary advice found in the Preamble to PTE 2020-02 and a set of Frequently Asked Questions. These pieces of guidance share the following three principles: (1) a best interest standard, (2) a process to support that best interest standard that requires consideration of relevant factors about the investor, the investor’s current retirement account and the recommended rollover account, and (3) documentation supporting the basis for the recommendation.

There are a few differences between the SEC and the DOL guidance that broker-dealers and their registered representatives should know about, including that the SEC rollover guidance is applicable to a much broader array of retirement plans and accounts, and also that the SEC guidance does not require a disclosure about the best interest reasons for the rollover recommendation as does the DOL under PTE 2020-02.

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